Tag: Marvel

Update: Deadpool 2 is out now, so I feel like this article is relevant again. This article was originally written when the first Deadpool was out in theaters.

So I finally went to the movies last night and watched Deadpool. I never read the comics or anything, but I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

I actually liked the movie a lot. I found it to be quite comical and refreshingly politically incorrect. The nudity, sex scenes and violence was also a treat.

While we were in line for tickets there was a woman with her daughter (about 9 or 10 years old) who ordered up some Deadpool tickets. Well, the lady behind her, who was there to see ‘Miracles from Heaven‘, decided to vitriolically remind this woman that Deadpool was rated R. *sigh*

So the question is, would you let your children watch this movie?

I saw the movie and I fully understand why a parent would not want their children to watch it. I also think that this type of exposure, however, isn’t necessarily going to have a traumatic affect on the child.

So whether you choose to let your kid watch it or choose to prohibit your child from watching it, I could agree with both.

I would like to offer my philosophy on the matter though, of course.

If one movie can corrupt your child then you’re not being the biggest influence in his or her life. Raising a child also means teaching them the ability to decipher the difference between acceptable behavior and unacceptable behavior and reality from fantasy.

Allow me to embellish. The movie depicts sexual perversion, violence and overall ‘bad behavior’. It should be explained to the child that what they’re seeing is theatrical and that it is not an accurate representation of how you should act in public. The movie kinda helps you with this by Deadpool repeatedly saying that he is not a hero.

The child needs to learn as early as possible the difference between a theater production and reality. I’m not saying rush your kid out to go watch Deadpool, that’s up to you. What I am encouraging is the idea of in-depth explanations, discussion, educating and being a substantial factor in your child’s growth, despite what he or she is exposed to.

You don’t want to be one of these moral crusaders who are attempting to blanket the world from their children. When you feel the child is at an age where they can begin to comprehend reasonable discussion, it is better to expose your child to elements beyond your comfort and explain to them what it is they’re seeing rather than to attempt to hide it from them.

I was 10 years old before, and behind our parents backs we watched every R rated movie we could get our hands on. I remember being 8 or 9 when I first watched Goodfellas (1990).

Yeah, we pretended to be gangsters when we were playing in the back yard and we’d use language our parents would’ve smacked the hell out of us for using, but when we got to school we knew better than to behave like that when we were there.

When we got around our parents and our grandparents and our elders we knew we weren’t supposed to act like the gangsters in Goodfellas. So we didn’t, because we knew it was just a movie. We were taught how to act in public.

Incidentally, I never stabbed anyone with an ice pick, robbed a bank, or killed anyone… but that’s how some of these moral groups would have expected me to behave after watching Goodfellas.

Like I said, it’s up to you if you allow your kid to watch Deadpool or not, but remember that parenting isn’t just about hiding your kid from “bad stuff”, it takes real effort, patience, education and guidance to raise your child.